The first fall frost welcomed us in the fields this morning. You know there is no turning back to summer once frost has hit, even if, as they are forecasting this Thanksgiving weekend, it is followed by a balmy Indian summer spell. While some vegetables resist, and even relish, frost (brocoli, jerusalem artichokes and lettuce, to name a few), others, such as eggplant, peppers and zucchini, wilt at the first hint of sub-zero temperatures. Cooler nights in September triggered the seasonal migration of mice from field to farm buildings, where relative warmth and shelter beckon. As a result, the latest additions to the farm a couple of weeks ago are two 6-month-old cats, Castor and Pollux. We have high hopes that they will grow into tough barn cats, guarding seeds and grain and keeping the mouse population under tight control. While neither the mice nor the cats seem to mind, the warehouse, which is nice and cool in the heat of summer, has turned ice-boxy – a frigid 4 degrees Celsius this morning. Usually, when we assemble baskets, they go into the cold room for a few hours’ storage before loading up the delivery van. No need this morning though — we simply left the baskets on the assembly shelves, like veggies on a fridge shelf.
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The month of July was exhausting, with yo-yoing temperatures and countless fires to put out. August looks promising in comparison. We have begun harvesting the season’s first melons – they are truly delicious – as well as those summer stalwarts: eggplants, peppers and the quintessential tomato, which weighs heavy on the vine in great abundance this year. While we had extended an invitation to our partners to come pick garlic with us, the July heat wave precipitated things and we had to harvest it quickly, the four bottom leaves having dried out more quickly than expected. In the CSA calendar, August signals the beginning of more intense harvesting as the farm schedule shifts from a balanced mix of seeding, weeding, monitoring, transplanting and harvesting, to a lop-sided one where the first four activities are greatly reduced relative to the last one. While planting continues, it is at a much diminished pace compared to earlier months. The farm’s life cycle shifts, and suddenly our thoughts turn to a to-do list of pre-end-of-season fieldwork, barn repairs, fence mending and countless other pressing things that had been postponed during the frenzy of early summer.
Not much time to write, as we prepare for the deliveries of our first baskets before the Saint-Jean weekend…A few pictures are more telling than words : while we will continue to start plants from seed in the greenhouse through July, our recent focus has been on planting and transplanting in the field. Many mid- to late-summer plants are transplanted onto plastic-covered rows to minimize weeding (zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and melons, to name a few), but most early-season veggies are not on plastic and once in the soil, require old-fashioned, and diligent, weeding…
It is difficult to speak of anything other than rain these days. There has been so much of it these last few weeks that some sections of our fields just aren’t draining. You can forget the use of most farm equipment in the soggy patches. Given the nature of our soil, tractor treads would take weeks to disappear. Soil compaction has become our nemesis. Abundant rainfall does have some advantages, though: our hay fields are incredibly lush and intensely green. Agriculturally speaking, it is possible to cultivate vegetables even in diluvial conditions. We are discovering – and appreciating – every hillock in our fields offering better planting conditions; needless to say, raised beds are also a plus in the circumstances. Despite the shortage of sunshine, our veggies are doing fine, especially our spring greens (they wilt in excessive heat). At the rate things are going, our lettuce will be delicious. That said, like you, we are hoping for sun-filled days – in a ratio of 3 to 1.
After last week’s proverbial April showers, we were hoping not only for May flowers, but for drier days propitious to planting. So far, though, May has been a disappointment: a short sunny break (four days), followed by diluvial rains since Tuesday noon. For farmers with loamy soils, a few days without rain will not suffice to dry things out – what we need is a real dry spell (a week or more) before returning to the fields. While we did manage to plant our first broccolis, cabbages and beets during last weekend’s sunny interlude, we will now have to bide our time, waiting for the sun to return. Too much rain is not good for agriculture: it carries everything away, washes out soil nutrients and floods the fields. And so we find ourselves, bowing to the sun gods instead of doing a rain dance…praying for sunshine – a lot of it, and fast.
March 23rd marked the start of our greenhouse season. Leeks and onions first, followed by artichokes, celeriac and sweet peppers. Early April saw us seeding cut flowers, which we hope to offer this summer, and a few slow-germinating herbs (marjoram, rosemary)…then beets (soon to be transplanted outdoors) and tomatoes (candidates for a longer greenhouse stint). We won’t bore you with the long list of plants to be seeded before the end of May. Suffice it to say that some planning is necessary to ensure good greenhouse timing and subsequent transplanting success. Seed too early, and the plant will grow too fast and lose the vigor required for future field growth; seed too late, and the plant won’t have enough time to mature in the field (onions, for example). Timing it right puts the odds of a good harvest in the farmer’s favour. Greenhouse work is a pleasurable experience – in addition to enjoying a balmy tropical micro-climate which contrasts markedly with the wild fluctuations in outdoor temperatures, you witness the small transformational miracle from seed to seedling on a daily basis. Our personal favourite is the cabbage seedling – as per the pic above.
Our last basket delivery is already upon us…the season has flown by and the first frosts have arrived, a boon for fall vegetables that thrive in cooler weather (Brussels sprouts, for example). September was wet, cold and generally unkind to our last lettuces, though, so regretfully, we’ll have to wait until next year for another bumper crop. Our carrots, however, are thriving and superbly sweet, even though they are becoming more delicate as fall progresses, breaking more often as we pull them up. There is still some fieldwork to be done – such as garlic planting and laying straw on the strawberries – but most of it is done. The green manure crops are growing well and will be turned under in the spring. And so we turn our attention to the wooded areas, where clearing paths of dead wood and bush will keep us busy…oh joy, oh bliss!
Alkékenge or more poetically amour en cage in French, bladder cherry from its Latin root – physalis, Chinese or Japanese lantern, winter cherry – there are countless names for the delicious ground cherry. Planted in the month of May, the plant reaches gigantic proportions in August, yielding large quantities of berries which are meticulously harvested week after week until the first frost. They are best laid out to dry in their husks for several days up to a few weeks before consumption. When they finally fill a dish, they can be deliciously addictive and notoriously difficult to share. Sweet but tart, the orange fruit of our comestible northern ground cherry (Physalis Pruinosa) differs from that of the more decorative Physalis Alkekengi. Strictly speaking, “alkékenge” denotes the ornamental Chinese lantern which belongs to the Alkekengi species and whose berries are wrapped in a bright orange husk. Botanists say the plant is of South American origin, more particularly Peruvian. The word alkékenge, which first appeared in XIVth-century France, is from the old French alqueqange or alcacange, in turn derived from the arabic Al-Kakendi, a physician and pharmaceutical authority to the Eastern Caliphate (western central Asia during the European Dark Ages). Be that as it may, the ground cherry is now grown worldwide, in regions where it is neither too cold (frost halts growth) nor too hot (despite its South American origins, the plant abhors excessive heat). We love eating the fruit fresh, but were recently offered a jar of amazing ground cherry jam…
Picking up where we left off is easier said than done. Notwithstanding recent cooler temperatures, the summer was a hot one. Everything that could go to seed did, to the frustration of those hoping for more lettuce in their baskets. The cooler weather heralds the return of broccoli and some leafy heads. The tomatoes continue to keep us busy. The plants simply refuse to cease yielding their bountiful crop – with no frost on the horizon, we’ll probably have to uproot them to get them to stop. Such is not the case of our eggplants, peppers and zucchinis: they seem to have decided that fall means slow, or no, production. And so we turn our attention to root crops. Radishes, carrots, turnips and more beets will fill your baskets – with winter squash to top things off.
July was an intense month – justification of sorts for our radio silence. It can’t get any busier than July, when crops are still being planted even as harvesting is under way. Added to the demands of crop logistics are those of basket fulfillment, and editorial activities such as these. We are heading into our 7th week, nearing the midpoint of our 16-week season. The much anticipated high point of the last few weeks, without a doubt, has been our first garlic harvest. Planted last fall, our garlic is now spread out to dry in all its varietal splendor in the coach house and barn hayloft, both specially requisitioned and prepped for garlic-drying. As we harvested the garlic by hand, we wondered what we would uncover – big, bulging bulbs or smaller, delicate cloves? Now, as it lies drying, we are already thinking about October, when we will select the best of the remaining bulbs for replanting. Less momentous, but equally satisfying, has been the start of our tomato harvest. While you have already seen the many-coloured hues of our early tomatoes, the tomato season, which continues into September, has in fact only just begun.
The 2012 Season is Here!
“It’s only February, but our seeds have arrived, the tractors have been tuned and except for a few sundry winter chores, we’re gearing up…” (read more, or cut to the chase and download our 2012 registration form)
Arlington Gardens welcomes you (see our photo gallery)
